Lenovo ThinkPad Helix

I am having my wife take a look at both tomorrow to see what she thinks as one of them might be hers a year out from now.

Haha. Just as my wife's about to inherit my Motorola Xoom as soon as I score a Helix. She steals it from me all the time anyway. Good excuse for me to spend the bucks on high-end convertible like the Helix? My nerd-logic says yes.

Well, I went today and when I left the house, I was favoring the Helix over the XPS 12.

Basically, Helix is now 'in stock' in Hong Kong in the shops even though its not released as yet (coming soon) on the Lenovo HK website. We have the i5/180gig/4gig and i7/256gig/8gig flavors. I gather we will also get one that lets you put in your mobile phone sim card.

So I got to monkey around with both a Helix and an XPS side by side in a shop. I ended up buying an XPS but just for information for those considering the Helix will give you my impressions.

It was CLOSE, very close to call. Realistically, I don't think I could have screwed it up badly either way I went. I still lament losing the pressure sensitive pen but realistically, its something that I never really used on my old Fujitsu (and once I did a W7 upgrade from Vista I lost the pressure sensitive aspect anyway). Since I didn't miss that aspect at all, I was really questioning how much value it was to me (and the Helix was 300+ more than the XPS).

So then the biggest difference between the two machines really comes down to screen size for me and frankly, my 40+ year old eyes were just drawn to the 12.5 inch screen on the XPS - its simply easier for me to see things. That said, good eyes or bad (mine are fine), it was also simply harder to use the touch aspect on the smaller screen as things are smaller due to the tighter pixel pitch (think I have that expression right; same resolution on smaller screen = smaller pixels and smaller targets to touch).

All the other specs were the same and the windows performance indexes were the same (or maybe .10 different).

The final thing that really pushed me over the edge though in favor of the XPS were the ergonomics. The weight distribution is much nicer/more even around the whole unit of the XPS while the Helix felt 'back heavy'. Heck, the Helix is just heavier period but not deal breaker so - and that weight picks up battery run time so its not dead weight. Finally, for me, I just don't envision ever using just the tablet so the click/rip tablet top of the Helix for me wasn't the best design. I will always want the keyboard available and the spin of the XPS makes it available much quicker (its quicker to spin it than it is to click/detach/re-attach). That for me kinda clinched it.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying the XPS is the b-all and end all but for me it simply won out primarily on ergonomics and a bigger screen. If the Helix were 13.3 inches vs the XPS, I would have completely went for a Helix (and as I expect to be in the market for another notebook for the house in a year, maybe that is coming down the road!).

Just my thoughts, take them for what they are worth - them and a buck fifty will get you a coffee

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I wouldn't have really thought to compare the two. The XPS 12 is $400 cheaper, the Helix is roughly half the weight in tablet mode. Digitizer, battery life, etc.

Seems like the XPS 12 might have considerably more appeal (vs the Helix) if you're planning on using it in mostly laptop mode? Personally I don't have much interest in a "convertible" that weighs 3.35lb as a tablet. The ability to rip off the Helix and use it as a 1.8lb tablet is a big part of why I'm interested in it. That's approaching (but still not as good as) iPad weight. Still concerned about digitizer support though.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I wouldn't have really thought to compare the two. The XPS 12 is $400 cheaper, the Helix is roughly half the weight in tablet mode. Digitizer, battery life, etc.

Seems like the XPS 12 might have considerably more appeal (vs the Helix) if you're planning on using it in mostly laptop mode? Personally I don't have much interest in a "convertible" that weighs 3.35lb as a tablet. The ability to rip off the Helix and use it as a 1.8lb tablet is a big part of why I'm interested in it. That's approaching (but still not as good as) iPad weight. Still concerned about digitizer support though.

Yup, the one review I read somewhere kinda calls it as you see it - if you want predominently a laptop, XPS is a good call, if you want predominently a tablet Helix is a good call. As I said, I think both are very good. For me, I have never even had a tablet and have always preferred my desktop to anything (notebooks let alone tablets feel gimped in comparison to a proper full on desktop).

So, having a decent notebook that can also have a 12.5 inch tablet screen in 2 seconds seemed a bit more appealing to me. I can do a spin, do some surfing or whatever people do with tablets and then go back to notebook mode in 2 seconds for things like Lightroom etc. I simply didn't see using the tablet stipped off on the Helix for myself so that utility isn't there for me. YMMV obviously and nothing wrong with that. The XPS is lighter than the Helix in tablet+ mode but has a bigger screen so I kinda figured heck, its just a lighter tablet...in a way (to help sell myself). Again, its entirely a ymmv thing.

Also, both the Helix and the XPS are lighter than my previous notebook by a mile so even though there are lighter (Acer S7 for instance), both the XPS and Helix were already more than sufficiently light for me (heck, I like my Nokia 920 partially because it is a bit heavier so has a nice feel to it). Maybe I am the odd one out hehe.

The fact that the XPS 12 is 400 cheaper to me is a good thing - as mentioned, the specs are almost identical otherwise (processor/screen resolution/memory/hardrive). For 400 more, you have to really want the ergonomics of the Helix (rip off tablet or pen) and I only kinda really wanted the pen.

edit - and to be clear, I am not trying to take anything away from the Helix in the Helix thread, just give some thoughts on what turned me from it to an XPS. I still think the 3 battery design with 1 in the keyboard and 2 in the tablet is brilliant and it ticks every box I had, I just really found I wanted at least a bit more screen real estate.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but...I hate you, I hate your family, I hate everyone else nearby your physical being at this very moment.

Seriously though, after a few days with it (perhaps a week since it takes some time to acclimate to the machine) would you mind coming up with a mini review for us who have the misfortune of needing to wait for one?

For example, what do you plan on using yours for? Will it be your primary machine and what would you typically run on it while at the office? How's the battery life in day-to-day use? How large is the keyboard? Is it comparable to other ultrabooks or subnotebooks, but still larger than a netbook's keyboard? You know, the usual gamut of questions when a new model is out but there are no in-depth reviews.

I'd hate myself too if I didn't just get this....This is my first new laptop in over 3.5 years, as I've been waiting for a worthy successor to my X200T. For me, one of the biggest draws was the incredibly high resolution screen and the rip/flip concept. One of the reasons I never bought a tablet before was not wanting to maintain my things on multiple machines, so I'm hoping this will be a good solution to that. I'll definitely be posting up a short review after I've had a chance to get it set up and use it a bit.

As I said, this is going to replace my X200T, which is my daily use home machine. I use a T410 for work. It's mostly going to be an email/web machine, RDP client, MS Office machine, and very light/casual gaming toy. I don't have any other ultrabook or netbook experience - smallest other laptop I've had was a Dell D400 - but I'll do my best to review.

So far, my initial impressions are that the unit definitely has some heft to it and feels quite solid, although a tad flexy if picking up by the front corner in laptop mode. Screen looks fantastic and is very responsive to hand touch. Haven't really used the pen yet. More to come...

Wheee! Co-worker ended up getting one of the two we're testing. The team that normally handles this is averse to high DPI and has no interest in the second, so I have a fun new toy! Now to figure out how to make it permanent : )

The build quality is decent IMO. So far, I'd put it in a similar build quality class as the X60, T60, X200, T420, and W510 I have within reach right now (yes, we are slight Thinkpad fans here, fair warning for my reviews). There is a bit of play in the screen when it is docked in laptop mode, but it sits all the way back pretty easily so when I'm doing touch-intensive stuff it doesn't rattle around. I do miss being able to open my laptop nearly flat when I'm lying on the couch, but really should just get used to popping off the tablet if that's what I'm looking to do.

On the trackpad buttons, I was pretty leary of them myself but the clicks are very tactile with positive clicks where I'd expect them to be. The touchpad is also enormous for such a little laptop, but the keyboard doesn't feel cramped at all. The trackpoint is a bit 'sunken' in, so not as usuable as on my past Thinkpads, but I'm not missing it. I find I use the touchscreen the most, followed by the trackpad. I'm very comfortable with trackpoints and have been known to use them even with touchpad and standard mouse available, for what it's worth.

I didn't think I'd like chiclet keys but they, too, have been decent to type on. The spacing seems about spot on (and I switch between my T420, a standard size external keyboard, and this keyboard every day). The function keys overlaid with some of the standard keys is a bit of an adjustment, and not having the forward/back buttons has been a bit confusing (but using gestures to navigate the internet works just fine). The soft keyboard is also fairly usable and responsive.

The extremely high pixel pitch has been both awesome and annoying. Not everything scales well, and since I am using Win8, I'm not getting as much benefit from being able to fit extra things on a small screen. However, I love the crispness of the display enough to outweigh the downsides (I might need bifocals sooner though, for some apps where I can't scale and where I can't change necessary font sizes).

I haven't been home a whole lot in the last week to really dig into using my Helix, but so far it's slipped right into my home computer use. My biggest problems so far are getting used to Windows 8 and trying to reach out and use the non-existent touchscreen on my work T420.

Feel free ask any questions - I'm putting together a review for my CDW guy, so it would be helpful to get some prompting questions to answer.

1.About the build quality, how much play does the docking mechanism allow if you were to apply a decent amount of pressure on it (say you were lightly leaning on the backside of the screen/tablet)? I use a Timbuk2 messenger bag and when I'm wearing it my back applies a reasonable amount of pressure on the backside of my current laptop's screen. I have no doubt that the tablet is built well, I'm just more concerned about the docking mechanism becoming "loose" over time from being in my bag.

2.What size is the overall keyboard + touchpad? Is it comparable in size to the X200, give or take an inch or two? ALong this note, can you swap the Fn and left Ctrl keys in the BIOS? This one's a biggy for me, as I've always swapped the Fn/Ctrl keys in the BIOS for as long as I can remember.

3.For workaday tasks that you'd normally perform around the office (or at home), how warm does the tablet's body get? I don't expect it to be cool to the touch, but at the same time I don't think it would reach Macbook Pro levels? The underside of the 15" retina MBP I have at the office turns into a skillet when even just Emacs, FTP, and Chrome are open.

4.Does the touchpad allow simultaneous left and right clicks? For example, can you hold down the left click and then perform a right click while the left click is still registered as being held down? I've never used a touchpad on a non-Mac machine, so I really don't know if these touchpads allow simultaneous left+right clicks.

5.How does the docking/undocking mechanism work? Is it like traditional Lenovo/IBM docks where you need to hit a button to "undock" in Windows before physically undocking, or can you just remove the dock without fuss? As well, say you have a USB storage drive plugged into the keyboard/dock and then you immediately undocked the tablet, does Windows handle this just like any normal USB device removal? It appears from most of the reading I've done that the USB ports on the keyboard/dock are basically just passthrough ports, it's not a hub or anything like that.

6.Finally, battery life! How is it? Some people give it 5 hours, others give it almost 7+ hours. Someone said that he was lucky to get over 4 hours with just the tablet alone. Have you got any numbers from the usage you've put it through so far?

Beautiful display, but if you have poor eyesight, this is not for you. Ridiculous DPI. Trying to determine if the light headache I've had over the past day or so is related to the Helix's display.Top heavy weighting is dangerous. I'll stop by a co-workers cube and rest this on my legs... More than once I've had to catch it from falling forward due to the weight.Design. The little flap has me concerned. Haven't run into trouble yet, but it just seems flimsy. My coworker snapped his off by accident (he was able to re-attach it).

On the whole, enjoying it thus far. If I adjust to the display, I may try to keep this.

asbath, still very new and don't have previous tablet experience to answer your questions:(3) Warm. If you do computationally intensive work, *hot*. I'm running the i7-3667u, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for asnwering my question about how warm/hot this thing gets. Again, I'm not surprised if it gets unnecessarily warm under load, but I'm curious as to what you were running when your unit got hot like that.

As for being top heavy, I think I'll do just fine with that. I'm already accustomed to resting small laptops on my lap such that the screen rests on my lap while the body of hte laptop rests on my stomach. I would imagine that this typing posture is actually very feasible with the top-heavy properties of these new tablet-laptop computer

asbath, still very new and don't have previous tablet experience to answer your questions:(3) Warm. If you do computationally intensive work, *hot*. I'm running the i7-3667u, if that makes a difference.

Quick question, were you running it in tablet mode or laptop mode, the allowed TDP is different depending on what mode you're using, there is some throttling involved in tablet mode if I recall correctly.

It's also possible that what Intel calls the Turbo Boost Short Power Max is higher for the i7. If you're wondering what that is, the CPU is allowed to briefly exceed it's specified TDP for a very short amount of time to get things done faster. So far, the only way I found to check those specs is using Intel XTU though. I have no idea what the limits are for the i7 and i5 in the Helix though, all I have to go with is a full voltage i7-3720qm. That of course is just speculation on my part.

1 - Not sure what the question is here? When it is closed from regular laptop mode, it closes like a regular laptop in a single unit.

2 - For standard typing, it's nearly identical. Reach seems about the same from a to b, for instance, but it starts losing about a key width if you go from a to k or so. For reference, a comparison pic next to my X200T: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ghvbztpgrrmhkn8/IMAG0079.jpg. Haven't checked out swapping Fn and left Ctrl.

4 - I'm not even sure what this would accomplish and/or what would be the expected effect? Nothing I'm running would use simultaneous left/right click for anything.

5 - You hit a tab on the side and pull the tablet out. There's no hassle or fuss involved (as there is no hassle or fuss involved in undocking a Thinkpad out of a standard dock). Not sure why Windows wouldn't handle undocking with a USB device attached to the keyboard like any other USB device removal? Either way, the tablet half is going to be losing connection to the USB device.

6 - Have not tested fully yet.

Other comments

Yes, the device is definitely a bit top heavy. And I've lost the little flap once, but was able to reattach. It strikes me as a mostly cosmetic piece - although at the price, I'd want even cosmetic pieces to stay in good shape of course! For both of these issues, I have full warranty/accidental damage protection in any case.

In laptop mode, it doesn't open more than about 120 degrees, so for me it doesn't work in that screen-on-lap-keyboard-on-stomach couch position. I just pop off the tablet in those instances.

1 - Not sure what the question is here? When it is closed from regular laptop mode, it closes like a regular laptop in a single unit.

Sorry should have been more clear about this. I was wondering how much flex the backside of the screen and the docking mechanism allow. That is, say you had it in laptop mode, lid closed, and you were leaning on the backside of the screen. Does the docking mechanism creak or otherwise show signs of flexing? Does it appear like it will withstand a decent amount of pressure on the docking mechanism?

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4 - I'm not even sure what this would accomplish and/or what would be the expected effect? Nothing I'm running would use simultaneous left/right click for anything.

I've become accustomed to some software that uses left+right click combinations to perform actions. With traditional trackpads you had dedicated left and right mouse buttons that you could use in combination with each other. I have never used a newer generation touchpad like this, so I wanted to know if the touchpad allows such a mouse button combination. One example of this is in Opera, if you hold down the right button then click the left button, it operates as the "Back" gesture.

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5 - You hit a tab on the side and pull the tablet out. There's no hassle or fuss involved (as there is no hassle or fuss involved in undocking a Thinkpad out of a standard dock). Not sure why Windows wouldn't handle undocking with a USB device attached to the keyboard like any other USB device removal? Either way, the tablet half is going to be losing connection to the USB device.

Lenovo docks have that "eject" soft button that forces Windows to remove all docked devices (USB, monitors, audio) before physically undocking. As indicated by #4 in this image. What I meant by my question is if you need to "eject" the keyboard dock just like one of those laptop docks.

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In laptop mode, it doesn't open more than about 120 degrees, so for me it doesn't work in that screen-on-lap-keyboard-on-stomach couch position. I just pop off the tablet in those instances.

WHen I have my laptop in position (screen in lap, keyboard resting on stomach), I am sitting up right in my chair, and looking down vertically at the laptop screen. In a sense, imagine that while sitting upright in your chair you look down at your lap and drum your fingers on your stomach just above your belly button. This is the posture I am talking about.

Lenovo docks have that "eject" soft button that forces Windows to remove all docked devices (USB, monitors, audio) before physically undocking. As indicated by #4 in this image. What I meant by my question is if you need to "eject" the keyboard dock just like one of those laptop docks.

They don't have that anymore - there's just a single button (on my W520's dock) which pushes the laptop upwards - comparable to #6 in your picture. Nothing to tell Windows anything, unless it's built into the action of that one button. The current docks are more comparable to the Helix's keyboard portion (USB, video, Ethernet etc) than the old-style dock in the image, which was before my time in TP dock terms, but looks like it probably has a PCI or other similar slot inside.

I suppose this is obvious, but even when I have heavy CPU use, the heat is at the top of the screen to the right of the webcam. If you use this as an actual 'lap'top, you won't bake your thighs. Asbath - you might with your screen on lap mode.

I prefer the tactile touchpads, but I'm getting used to this one. It works quite well. The buttons on the other hand - I prefer independent touchpad buttons with a physical split between them. I like to know where they split without looking down (will this be a left click? a right click?).

MSRP's not nearly as bad as I was expecting! Been playing with Lenovo's website, and to get one with an i7, 8 gb ram, and a 256 gb hd is $2099. For an apples to apples comparison, I checked the i5 model, and it could only be outfitted with 4 gb ram, you have to pay $50 for Win 8 pro which comes standard with the i7 model, and the upgrade to a 256 gb hd is $200, whereas it's only $100 more on the i7 model, bring the price to $1929 for one outfitted similarly to the i7 model I "selected."

A $170 difference really doesn't seem bad for the bump to an i7 and twice the ram, but I guess my decision will come down to two things...battery life of both models and if a Haswell model will be coming out within the next month or two. If it's still a half year out, then I might just bite the bullet on the current Helix.

A $170 difference really doesn't seem bad for the bump to an i7 and twice the ram, but I guess my decision will come down to two things...battery life of both models and if a Haswell model will be coming out within the next month or two. If it's still a half year out, then I might just bite the bullet on the current Helix.

Of course I could be wrong, but IMHO no ULV Haswell devices will hit the market in 2 months. In fact I'd be betting on Q4.

- I haven't seen any ULV Haswell device announced yet and certainly no convertible.- Past experience has shown that it will take a bit before the CPU's becomepart of the current line up.- If you live outside of the USA add at least another Q.

And about the Helix: Considering it just this week became available in the USA Lenovo shop, considering everywhere else in the world it's not avialable even at prefered reseller level it seems to be extremely unlikely to expect a refresh before 2014.

That said, there's a lot of hype about Haswell, but we haven't seen an ULV in action yet.

- The GPU upgrade of Haswell is nice, but the ULV get's a castrated design.- Battery life is claimed to be much better, but considering the CPU is just a part in the equation it remains to be seen how much difference it will make.

It will be worth it, but it needs to be really, really great if it lives up to current expectations

Dangit. I just read that although Lenovo's taking orders, they won't be shipping until June 10th. So many delays! I want to see some detailed reviews already! That means I'm going to have to wait almost another month for my new lappy. Starting to lose my patience over here. Grrrrr.

Ok, I take it back, I can get this to run hot enough that I can feel significant warmth from the screen side when using touch. No burning lap, though! And I think it cools down a bit faster, if only because the screen/tablet side is more exposed to air than the bottom of a regular laptop. I haven't gotten it hot enough to freeze it up, which is more than I can say for my X200T.

The dock is, as V_Max says, just a single physical button as it's been for all of the Thinkpad docs I've had for the last 10 years or so. I don't detect any real lag between docking/undocking. The docking mechanism folds up into the laptop and wouldn't be exposed to any real outside pressure when closed in laptop mode - see my very first picture above, which is a closed Helix looking down on the tablet/screen side.

I took my Helix off AC power this morning to see how long it would run on battery and got about 5 hours in laptop mode with moderate use. Amusingly, Windows starting bitching at me about low battery at 10%, but still showed about an hour of use available. I'm using the 'balanced' power scheme and I've done nothing in terms of settings to see how long I could stretch out battery life.

Even though I told her to wait for Haswell, my g/f got a Helix ordered a while back through her company. It came in yesterday and I got to mess around with it for a bit.

She got it pretty well decked out, i7-3667U, 8GB of RAM and the 256GB SSD.

The back surface of the tablet is a tiny bit more tacky than your usual thinkpad. It's not sticky, but it does grip better than other thinkpads, I think I like it overall. The tablet itself felt very sturdy and well built. I didn't notice any flex, and the weight was fine. It wasn't too heavy to use as a tablet, but it's still no iPad. I still find 16:9 tablets a bit awkward, but I think that's a matter of getting used to it. The screen is beautiful. Watching 1080p content on there is really great, and touch responsiveness is perfect. So far I would complain about the heat, but it was working pretty hard all night installing software and transferring data. It definitely gets pretty hot. Maybe not unusably hot, but it certainly gets to the uncomfortable point when it's working hard. Now that it's done syncing it'll be interesting to see how it handles a normal work day. The only real complaints I have are that the buttons are really hard to press and the pen is really hard to get out (though I'm thankful it has a slot and not just a magnet). The power, volume, and auto-rotate button are recessed enough that it takes some real effort to hit them, sometimes I had to resort to trying to poke one with my nail.

For the most part I like the dock quite a bit. The keyboard is just small enough that it'll take some getting used to, but just big enough that it's not much of an adjustment and perfectly usable. The trackpad size is wonderful, but it's been a little finicky so far. Two finger scrolling doesn't always track, especially in desktop mode. I got rid of the Lenovo auto-scroll software and I think it's better without that, but it's still not as good as my MacBook was under Windows 7. I only briefly tried it, but I couldn't get the trackpoint to right click, I'll investigate more later. It is very weird using the trackpoint without the physical buttons. Otherwise the dock is a good size, you get the two USB 3 ports and the mini displayport on the back. The hinge feels very sturdy, but I'm not entirely sure if you're supposed to be able to adjust it without the tablet plugged in. I didn't try to hard since I didn't want to break it. The only real oddity is the flap part that covers backside of the connector area. It seems potentially problematic.

Together they make a nice little laptop. It is a little top heavy, but I expected it to be more so. It holds itself up well enough. With the height of the hinge and the dock, the screen does look a little small, perched up there, but the dimensions do give room for the generous trackpad, which I appreciate. It folds up into a nice small size, but that's coming from someone with a T420s. It's noticeably more bulky than a MacBook Air, but it's still a small enough package that I'd be happy lugging around.

Most of my issues using it so far have been with Windows 8. I used Win8 for a while on my T420s, but I ended up going back to my Win7 partition because the display link driver on Win8 wouldn't work right and I would only get two of my monitors working. Win 8 really does make a good deal more sense on a hybrid machine like the Helix, but there are still a lot of oddities. At the top of the list is scaling. By default her Helix came set to 125%, but that was still too small, so we bumped it up to 150%, which felt right. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff doesn't scale well or correctly. Chrome looks absolutely terrible. Apparently the fix is to turn off dpi scaling and then have chrome render pages at 150%, which looks great, but it means all the UI isn't scaled and made it really hard to use with a finger. I don't expect Google to really work on that too much so I decided to setup IE as the default metro browser and chrome as the default on the desktop, but I'm not really sure that's possible. I only spent a couple min, but it seems like IE won't launch in metro mode if it's not the default everywhere. I'll have to look more into this later. Otherwise, metro worked great. It's super smooth and responsive, but it made me really really want 8.1 to be out NOW. I kept thinking I should setup something like I saw it in the demo video, but I can't.

In general I'm really liking the Helix so far. It seems like a well built machine that just might be a perfect fit for a wide range of uses. We're going on a weekend trip to NYC, so we'll get to put this thing through it's paces.

Does the Helix use some kind of system update thing like ThinkVantage to keep up with Lenovo's drivers? Weirdly it doesn't work on Yoga and possibly their ultrabooks. It just feels too last decade to have to hunt down driver updates manually.

Does the Helix use some kind of system update thing like ThinkVantage to keep up with Lenovo's drivers? Weirdly it doesn't work on Yoga and possibly their ultrabooks. It just feels too last decade to have to hunt down driver updates manually.

The Yoga isn't a Thinkpad though, I thought ThinkVantage was meant for Thinkpads only...

Well, as excited as I was for the Helix previously, I just can't bring myself to order one. Why? Because Haswell's already starting to become commonplace, even on mid-grade, mid-priced laptops, and according to reviews I've read, Haswell was totally worth the wait and it would be foolish to buy anything portable with Ivy Bridge now, unless it was at a significant discount, which nothing really seems to be. Yet, no Haswell on the (not cheap) Helix? Not even an announcement?

With the Helix demanding top-tier pricing, it's tough to justify last-gen hardware. I have been unable to find anything official confirming they'll be using Haswell. WTF, Lenovo?! The chips are out there. Heck, Lenovo even has them on their much cheaper IdeaPad series laptops!

Would LOVE to see what this baby could do with the latest Intel chips. Should easily push it over 10+ hours of battery life docked. That's what I need for work. Especially if I'm dropping 2 G's on it.

Well, as excited as I was for the Helix previously, I just can't bring myself to order one. Why? Because Haswell's already starting to become commonplace, even on mid-grade, mid-priced laptops, and according to reviews I've read, Haswell was totally worth the wait and it would be foolish to buy anything portable with Ivy Bridge now, unless it was at a significant discount, which nothing really seems to be. Yet, no Haswell on the (not cheap) Helix? Not even an announcement?

With the Helix demanding top-tier pricing, it's tough to justify last-gen hardware. I have been unable to find anything official confirming they'll be using Haswell. WTF, Lenovo?! The chips are out there. Heck, Lenovo even has them on their much cheaper IdeaPad series laptops!

Would LOVE to see what this baby could do with the latest Intel chips. Should easily push it over 10+ hours of battery life docked. That's what I need for work. Especially if I'm dropping 2 G's on it.

I totally agree. I thought that they would delay it until Haswell, but I guess not. I find it so odd to launch a flagship product right before a new processor revision.

I really do like it though. If they do more than just stick Haswell in there and iterate the design just a bit, it would be a really great machine.

For what it's worth, I received a Helix on a Thursday, turned it in that Monday. Why?

Resolution. High DPI is great. Not so much when it's on a small screen and many applications don't play well with changing DPI settings.

Touch and resolution. Touch is great. IMHO, it won't replace the mouse or trackpad, but it will certainly be a convenient alternative input (in the same way that the mouse did not replace a keyboard for all aspects of computing). Touch on the Helix is difficult at best. I pride myself on my hand eye coordination yet I still had trouble touching the exact spot I needed to when the DPI is so damn high.

Size. It's convenient for traveling, but I'm much happier with the real estate of a 14+ inch laptop. Do I want it better at it's primary function (computing, where real estate helps), or some tangential function (portability)?

Ports. Niche perhaps, but I like to plug in for large file transfers and for a smoother connection back to work. I like plugging a spare monitor I keep on my desk without fiddling with adapters. A dock might help, but I like these things at work and at home. Again, niche use case, but worth mentioning.

Balance. Couldn't get used to it. Caught it falling off my lap multiple times. My co-worker kept his and now likes to hunch over with the keyboard on his stomach, screen on his lap. No thanks!!

Well, as excited as I was for the Helix previously, I just can't bring myself to order one. Why? Because Haswell's already starting to become commonplace, even on mid-grade, mid-priced laptops, and according to reviews I've read, Haswell was totally worth the wait and it would be foolish to buy anything portable with Ivy Bridge now, unless it was at a significant discount, which nothing really seems to be. Yet, no Haswell on the (not cheap) Helix? Not even an announcement?

With the Helix demanding top-tier pricing, it's tough to justify last-gen hardware. I have been unable to find anything official confirming they'll be using Haswell. WTF, Lenovo?! The chips are out there. Heck, Lenovo even has them on their much cheaper IdeaPad series laptops!

Would LOVE to see what this baby could do with the latest Intel chips. Should easily push it over 10+ hours of battery life docked. That's what I need for work. Especially if I'm dropping 2 G's on it.

I totally agree. I thought that they would delay it until Haswell, but I guess not. I find it so odd to launch a flagship product right before a new processor revision.

I really do like it though. If they do more than just stick Haswell in there and iterate the design just a bit, it would be a really great machine.

Same here. I really wanted it but due to a delay in the actual availability (was supposed to have come out back in January), results in the Helix getting stuck in an unfortunate position of having the older gen processor.

My hope now is that the Haswell version comes out in Oct/Nov and comes with at least 2 more USB ports and an SD slot. I'm quite surprised about the lack of ports on the device, given that the older Samsung AtivPC Pro (with i5) came out in Nov last year with a total of 3 USB ports (1 of them is a 3.0 port on the tablet itself, two on the keyboard) and a MicroSD slot on the body together with 3G modem built in.

I didn't keep the Samsung cos I didn't like the texture of the back of the tablet and the generally "unsolid" feel of it. Now Samsung has announced the Ativ Q, I may gravitate to that if Lenovo doesn't release a solid successor.

Same here. I really wanted it but due to a delay in the actual availability (was supposed to have come out back in January), results in the Helix getting stuck in an unfortunate position of having the older gen processor.

That's where they messed up big time. Microsoft too. When they first make these grand announcements of upcoming hardware, like the Surface Pro and the Helix, I get all excited and am ready for them to hurry up and take my money! But then as we experience delay after delay, my excitement dwindles. Then they push things so far back, that we're now into the era of 4th gen i3/5/7 processors and they still want us to pony up top dollar for 3rd gen stuff? Ummmm...I'm not exactly stoked anymore. If they delayed things for over half a year, they should AT LEAST update the CPU in a timely manner.

Sorry, Lenovo. You had my attention in January, but you've taught me a good virtue...patience. I can now wait a bit longer for a Haswell-based competitor.

That's where they messed up big time. Microsoft too. When they first make these grand announcements of upcoming hardware, like the Surface Pro and the Helix, I get all excited and am ready for them to hurry up and take my money! But then as we experience delay after delay, my excitement dwindles. Then they push things so far back, that we're now into the era of 4th gen i3/5/7 processors and they still want us to pony up top dollar for 3rd gen stuff? Ummmm...I'm not exactly stoked anymore. If they delayed things for over half a year, they should AT LEAST update the CPU in a timely manner.

Sorry, Lenovo. You had my attention in January, but you've taught me a good virtue...patience. I can now wait a bit longer for a Haswell-based competitor.

That has always been a huge problem particularly with Lenovo. They are very slow in releasing their Thinkpad laptops with the latest processor and interfaces; usually about 6 months for CPU, interfaces like USB 3 took them a long time. When Haswell was announced in Computex on 5th June, over here, we had a IT show on the following day. Asus basically released their laptop with Haswell on the day after it was announced . Now *that* is the way that products should be released.

If you are in NYC, the Datavis shop on 42th & 5th has a helix display model, pretty sure the B&H on 34th has one too

Use cases:On-the-go programming (need decent kb/dock combo) - BT kbs don't work that well in a cramped space like starbucks/libraryOn-the-go review (video playing/other stuff, easier as a detachable tablet

Alternatives:

Surface Pro - only 4GB ram, keyboard combo doesn't work well (can't put it on my lap and angle the screen)

Samsung Ativ Q - ram, not out yet

Asus Transformer Book - looks good, but only 4GB ram, rather have the helix(think helix has better durability/reliability)

Transformer Book successor (T300), some leaks/rumors: still only 4GB, haswell, but no secondary battery/HDD in kb dock

Thinkpad Helix - problems I see:

Haswell upgrade for battery life (I'll probably wait for this one)why are ports on the bottom of the tablet portion? I want to put a tiny microSD reader that just out a little, but the kb-portion is flush. don't mind modding it (looks simple according to the hardware repair videos from lenovo)heat problems / fan problems so far, from the forums